Car-door



(No Model.) J 1). HARLESS.

GAR DOOR.

No. 435,176. Patented Aug. 26, 189(1).

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOE DAVIED HARLESS, OF ANNISTON, ALABAMA.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 435,176, dated August 26, 1890. Application filed April 5, 1890. Serial 110.3%,682- (No model.)

"f all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J or: DAVIED HARLESS, of Anniston, in the county of Calhoun and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Doors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, ref

erence being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a detail side view of a freightcar, showing my improved door applied. Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional View through the door and its operating devices closed. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the same unclosed. Figs. at and 5 are details.

This invention is an improvement in cardoor hangers and operating devices; and its object is to provide a hanging door the face of which when closed will be flush with the side of the car, so that a tight-fitting door can be employed which can be easily operated, and is especially useful in refrigeratorcars, and which is not liable to be forced open by obstructions striking its edges, and is protected from injury when closed by blows on its edges.

To this end theinvention consists in novel hanging devices and novel devices for seating and unseatingthe door, and in othernovel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A designates a car; B, the door; 0, a horizontal bar attached to the top of the side of the car and extending over the doorway and to one side thereof, and having at its outer edge a downwardly-depending piece or flange D, to the lower edge and inner face of which is attached a track or hanger rail E, as shown.

F F are sliding blocks mounted on said rail and movable thereon and having sideflanges f f on their inner and upper faces. G G are hangers attached to said blocks by bolts g, passing through the upper ends of flanges f and eyes on the upper ends of the hangers, so that the hangers may be turned at right angles to blocks F or folded thereagainst between flanges ff, thus hinging the hangers to the blocks. blocks F and h ave laterally-perforated sleeves The hangers depend below the g 011 their lower ends. H H are U-shaped castings having flanges 72 on their outer edges, and secured in recesses or lnortises in the upper edge of the car-door, as shown, and h h are transverse bolts passing through the upright legs of the castings and through sleeves g of the hangers, thereby attaching and suspending the door from the blocks F, as shown. When the door is closed, as shown in Fig. 2, the hangers G are nearly horizontal, and the top of the door is above the lower edges of the blocks F, which are then widely separated from the door and lie almost directly opposite castings H H, as shown. The door also fits within the jambs and closes the opening by fitting therein instead of by overreaching the same, as in ordinary freight-cars. In opening the door it is forced outward away from the side of the car until its bottom edge slips off the door-sill. The door then drops vertically until hangers G Gassume a vertical ornearly vertical posit-ion and lie against blocks F, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. This causes the inner face of the door to clear the outer face of the car-sides, and the door can then be pushed to one side to unclose the door-opening, as usual.

In closing the door it is slid forward until directly opposite the opening. Then it is lifted upward and pushed inward to its seat, and in order to facilitate this operation, and also its unseating in opening, I employ the following-described devices: J J rcpresenta pair of parallel vertically-arranged brackets, which may be united at their inner edges by a transverse web or piece j, and which have lateral flanges J J springing from their outer faces, by which they can be bolted br secured to the car. K designates a casting secured between brackets J upon a transverse pin 76 attached thereto, so that the casting K can swing between the brackets. L

designates a plate having a pair of perforated lugs Z Z depending from its bottom, and between which the upper end of casting Kis hinged or secured by a transverse pin it, so that the plate can rock on the casting and always maintain, if necessary, a horizontal position. Z are flanges rising from the inner and outer edges of the plate. The casting K has a horn K on its outer edge, which is en-- gaged by a link an, attached to a lever M,

which is pivoted or suspended at one end on the pin it, or by an angular projection M on said lever. N N are upstanding studs on the outer extremities of brackets J J, and O is a dog hung between said studs on a pin 02 secured thereto and having its free end 0 bent at an angle, as shown. The brackets are secured to the car partly in a notch in the sill of the door-opening, so that when plate L is swung outward it will be supported upon the tops of the brackets, as shown, and will lie in the path of the door and just below the bottom edge thereof when it (the door) is opposite the door-opening. Now in closing the door the plate L is thrown down and out in the position just described, dog 0 is turned outward, and lever M is hanging freely. The door is then slid forward until it is opposite the door-opening and just over the plate L. Lever M is then caught and swung upward, causing its projection M to engage horn K of casting K and force the same to swing upward to assume a vertical position. This of course lifts plate L, and its flanges Z catch the edges of the bottom of the door and cause the door to rise with the plate L. As the door rises, its top is swung inward by reason of hangers G G, as described, and plate L is swung upward and inward with casting J until the door is seated in the door-opening, when farther inward movement of the plate is stopped by reason of the engagement of its flanges with the door, and the door can thus be forcibly seated. When in this position, dog

O is swung over and inward, its end 0 binding against the lower edge of the door and partly in a notch L in the edge of plate L, so that displacement of the plate and outward movement of the door are prevented. The dog 0 thus forms a wedge for holding the door closed,

- and by fastening it down with an ordinary seal or by a lock and chain the door is effectually secured against intruders. The lever M is allowed to drop back out of the way. To open the door dog 0 is swung outward again, lever M raised, and its link m caught over horn K of casting K. Then by pulling down on the lever casting K is swung outward,and

with it plate L, which, catching the bottom of the door, drags it outward also until it clears the jamb and drops by gravity into position for swinging to one side. By this means I can forcibly close or open the door should it "purposely be made tight-fitting or be swollen from rain and damp, and a substantial heavy door can be readily and easily manipulated.

without the exertion of violent force and with- 1. The combination of the hanger-rail and the sliding blocks thereon, having'side flanges with the hangers hinged to the upper ends of said blocks between the flanges thereof and having a hinge-connection with the upper edge of a CLPdOOl, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the hanger-rail, the sliding blocks thereon, and the hangers hinged to said blocks, with the U-shaped'castings H H, secured in recessesin the upper edge of the car-door and having ahinge-connection with the lower ends of the hangers, substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the car-door and its hangers, substantially as described, with the devices for seating and unseating the door, comprising a plate adapted to catch the lower edge of the door, a swinging casting supporting said plate, and devices for moving said casting, substantially as specified.

4. The combination of the brackets J, the plate L attached thereto, and the lever M, for the purpose and substantially as set forth.

. 5. The combination of the hanger-rail, the sliding blocks F, and hangers G with the cardoor and the flanged castings H H, attached to the upper edge thereof and connected to the hangers, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the brackets, the casting K, hinged between the same, and the plate L, attached to said casting, with the lever M and dog 0, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination, with the car-door and its hangers, substantially as described, of the seating and unseating device therefor, consisting of the brackets J J, the casting K, hinged between the same, having a horn K, the lever M, having an angular projection M and link m, the flanged plate L, and the locking-dog 0, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I afflx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. JOE DAVIED IIARLESS.

Witnesses:

' E. WHITAKER,

HENRY HORN.

IOC 

